Commitments and Contingencies |
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| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies |
Commitments and Contingencies
In the normal course of business, the Corporation enters into a number of off-balance sheet commitments. These commitments expose the Corporation to varying degrees of credit and market risk and are subject to the same credit and market risk limitation reviews as those instruments recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. For more information on commitments and contingencies, see Note 12 – Commitments
and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation’s 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Credit Extension Commitments
The Corporation enters into commitments to extend credit such as loan commitments, standby letters of credit (SBLCs) and commercial letters of credit to meet the financing needs of its customers. The following table includes the notional amount of unfunded legally binding lending commitments net of amounts distributed (i.e., syndicated or participated) to other financial institutions. The distributed amounts were $10.3 billion at both September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023. The carrying value of the Corporation’s credit extension commitments at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, excluding commitments accounted for under the fair value option, was $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion, which predominantly related to the reserve for unfunded lending commitments. The carrying value of these commitments is classified in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.
Legally binding commitments to extend credit generally have specified rates and maturities. Certain of these commitments have adverse change clauses that help to protect the Corporation against deterioration in the borrower’s ability to pay. The following table includes the notional amount of commitments of $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 that are accounted for under the fair value option. However, the table excludes the cumulative net fair value for these commitments of $66 million and $67 million at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, which
is classified in accrued expenses and other liabilities. For more information regarding the Corporation’s loan commitments
accounted for under the fair value option, see Note 15 – Fair Value Option.
(1) At September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, $4.0 billion and $3.1 billion of these loan commitments were held in the form of a security.
(2) The notional amounts of SBLCs and financial guarantees classified as investment grade and non-investment grade based on the credit quality of the underlying reference name within the instrument were $24.8 billion and $10.2 billion at September 30, 2024, and $23.6 billion and $9.7 billion at December 31, 2023. Amounts in the table include consumer SBLCs of $883 million and $744 million at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023.
(3) Primarily includes second-loss positions on lease-end residual value guarantees.
(4) Includes business card unused lines of credit.
Other Commitments
At September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation had commitments to purchase loans (e.g., residential mortgage and commercial real estate) of $451 million and $822 million, which upon settlement will be included in trading account assets, loans or LHFS, and commitments to purchase commercial loans of $6.9 billion and $420 million, which upon settlement will be included in trading account assets.
At September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation had commitments to enter into resale and forward-dated resale and securities borrowing agreements of $129.4 billion and $117.0 billion, and commitments to enter into forward-dated repurchase and securities lending agreements of $113.1 billion and $63.0 billion. A significant portion of these commitments will expire within the next 12 months.
At both September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation had a commitment to originate or purchase up to $4.0 billion, on a rolling 12-month basis, of auto loans and leases from a strategic partner. This commitment extends through November 2026 and can be terminated with 12 months prior notice.
At September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation had unfunded equity investment commitments of $444 million and $477 million.
As a Federal Reserve member bank, the Corporation is required to subscribe to a certain amount of shares issued by its Federal Reserve district bank, which pays cumulative dividends at a prescribed rate. At both September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation had paid $5.4 billion for half of its subscribed shares, with the remaining half subject to call by the Federal Reserve district bank board, which the Corporation believes is remote.
Other Guarantees
Bank-owned Life Insurance Book Value Protection
The Corporation sells products that offer book value protection to insurance carriers who offer group life insurance policies to corporations, primarily banks. At September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the notional amount of these guarantees totaled $3.3 billion and $3.8 billion. At September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation’s maximum exposure related to these guarantees totaled $505 million and $577 million, with estimated maturity dates between 2034 and 2037.
Merchant Services
The Corporation in its role as merchant acquirer or as a sponsor of other merchant acquirers may be held liable for any reversed charges that cannot be collected from the merchants due to,
among other things, merchant fraud or insolvency. If charges are properly reversed after a purchase and cannot be collected from either the merchants or merchant acquirers, the Corporation may be held liable for these reversed charges. The ability to reverse a charge is primarily governed by the applicable payment network rules and regulations, which include, but are not limited to, the type of charge, type of payment used and time limits. The total amount of transactions subject to reversal under payment network rules and regulations processed for the preceding six-month period, which was approximately $195 billion, is an estimate of the Corporation’s maximum potential exposure as of September 30, 2024. The Corporation’s risk in this area primarily relates to circumstances where a cardholder has purchased goods or services for future delivery. The Corporation mitigates this risk by requiring cash deposits, guarantees, letters of credit or other types of collateral from certain merchants. The Corporation’s reserves for contingent losses, and the losses incurred related to the merchant processing activity were not significant.
Representations and Warranties Obligations and Corporate Guarantees
For more information on representations and warranties obligations and corporate guarantees, see Note 12 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation’s 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The reserve for representations and warranties obligations and corporate guarantees was $276 million and $604 million at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 and is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet, and the related provision is included in other income in the Consolidated Statement of Income. The representations and warranties reserve represents the Corporation’s best estimate of incurred losses, is based on its experience in previous negotiations, and is subject to judgment, a variety of assumptions and known or unknown uncertainties. Future representations and warranties losses may occur in excess of the amounts recorded for these exposures; however, the Corporation does not expect such amounts to be material to the Corporation's financial condition and liquidity. See Litigation and Regulatory Matters below for the Corporation's combined range of possible loss in excess of the reserve for representations and warranties and the accrued liability for litigation.
Fixed Income Clearing Corporation Sponsored Member Repo Program
The Corporation acts as a sponsoring member in a repo program whereby the Corporation clears certain eligible resale and repurchase agreements through the Government Securities Division of the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation on behalf of clients that are sponsored members in accordance with the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation’s rules. As part of this program, the Corporation guarantees the payment and performance of its sponsored members to the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation. The Corporation’s guarantee obligation is secured by a security interest in cash or high-quality securities collateral placed by clients with the clearinghouse and therefore, the potential for the Corporation to incur significant losses under this arrangement is remote. The Corporation’s maximum potential exposure, without taking into consideration the related collateral, was $197.7 billion and $132.5 billion at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023.
Other Guarantees
In the normal course of business, the Corporation periodically guarantees the obligations of its affiliates in a variety of transactions including ISDA-related transactions and non-ISDA related transactions such as commodities trading, repurchase agreements, prime brokerage agreements and other transactions.
Guarantees of Certain Long-term Debt
The Corporation, as the parent company, fully and unconditionally guarantees the securities issued by BofA Finance LLC, a consolidated finance subsidiary of the Corporation, and effectively provides for the full and unconditional guarantee of trust securities and capital securities issued by certain statutory trust companies that are 100 percent owned finance subsidiaries of the Corporation.
Other Contingencies
In 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a final rule to impose a special assessment to recover certain estimated losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) arising from the closures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The estimated losses will be recovered through quarterly special assessments collected from certain insured depository institutions, including the Corporation, and collection began during the three months ended June 30, 2024. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Corporation’s accrual for its estimated share of the FDIC special assessment was $2.2 billion and $2.1 billion. The Corporation continues to monitor the FDIC’s estimated loss to the DIF, which could affect the amount of its accrued liability.
Litigation and Regulatory Matters
The following disclosures supplement the disclosure in Note 12 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation’s 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K (the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure).
In the ordinary course of business, the Corporation and its subsidiaries are routinely defendants in or parties to many pending and threatened legal, regulatory and governmental actions and proceedings. In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of such matters, particularly where the claimants seek very large or indeterminate damages or where the matters present novel legal theories or involve a large number of parties, the Corporation generally cannot predict the eventual outcome of the pending matters, timing of the ultimate resolution of these matters, or eventual loss, fines or penalties related to each pending matter.
As a matter develops, the Corporation, in conjunction with any outside counsel handling the matter, evaluates whether such matter presents a loss contingency that is probable and estimable, and, for the matters disclosed below and in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure, whether a loss in excess of any accrued liability is reasonably possible in future periods. Once the loss contingency is deemed to be both probable and estimable, the Corporation will establish an accrued liability and record a corresponding amount of litigation-related expense. The Corporation continues to monitor the matter for further developments that could affect the amount of the accrued liability that has been previously established. Excluding expenses of internal and external legal service providers, litigation and regulatory investigation-related expense of $38 million and $188 million was recognized for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to $76 million and $442 million for the same periods in 2023.
For any matter disclosed in this Note and in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure for which a loss in future periods is reasonably possible and estimable (whether in excess of an accrued liability or where there is no accrued liability) and for representations and warranties exposures, the Corporation’s estimated range of possible loss is $0 to $0.8 billion in excess of the accrued liability, if any, as of September 30, 2024.
The accrued liability and estimated range of possible loss are based upon currently available information and subject to significant judgment, a variety of assumptions and known and unknown uncertainties. The matters underlying the accrued liability and estimated range of possible loss are unpredictable and may change from time to time, and actual losses may vary significantly from the current estimate and accrual. The estimated range of possible loss does not represent the Corporation’s maximum loss exposure.
Information is provided below and in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure regarding the nature of the litigation or other contingency and, where specified, associated claimed damages. Based on current knowledge, and taking into account accrued liabilities, management does not believe that loss contingencies arising from pending matters, including the matters described below and in the prior commitments and contingencies disclosure, will have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial condition or liquidity of the Corporation. However, in light of the significant judgment, variety of assumptions and uncertainties involved in those matters, some of which are beyond the Corporation’s control, and the very large or indeterminate damages sought in some of those matters, an adverse outcome in one or more of those matters could be material to the Corporation’s business or results of operations for any particular reporting period, or cause significant reputational harm.
Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering and Economic Sanctions Compliance
The Corporation has been engaged with several of its federal regulators in relation to certain aspects of the Corporation’s Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs (Programs), including transaction monitoring, training, governance, and customer due diligence. In cooperation with regulators, the Corporation has been, and plans to continue, implementing enhancements to these Programs. The Corporation is continuing discussions with its regulators about the Programs, and resolution of these discussions may include one or more public orders by the regulators. Based on these discussions, the Corporation does not expect these issues relating to the Programs will have a material adverse financial impact on the Corporation.
CFPB Inquiry Related to Processing Electronic Payments
The Corporation has been responding to an inquiry from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the Corporation’s processing of electronic payments of funds through the Zelle network. The CFPB staff has initiated discussions with the Corporation to pursue a resolution of the inquiry or file an enforcement action. The Corporation is evaluating next steps, including litigation.
Deposit Insurance Assessment
On July 1, 2024, the district court judge vacated the magistrate judge’s April 2023 report and recommendation for resolving the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, and asked the parties to file new motions, in light of a recent Supreme Court decision. The parties subsequently filed their new summary judgment motions which are pending.
Unemployment Insurance Prepaid Cards
In connection with the multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, in response to BANA’s partial motion to dismiss, the court dismissed certain claims in the amended complaint and allowed others to proceed, including claims under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act.
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